Sugar and Fodder Beets for Stock and Sucrose

Three Classes of Field Beets

Mangels (Mangolds, Mangel-Wurzel) Fodder Beets True Sugar Beets

History of Field Beet Cropping Development in

17th and 18th century

Resulted in the “Gin Craze”

Used as an alternate sugarmaking stock in France under Napoleon

Now a major source of sugar and ethanol stock worldwide

Our Project Objectives:

Evaluate several non-GMO varieties for crop performance in an organic, diversified small farm setting

Develop a method of storing and processing beets, both for stock feed and value-added applications

Evaluate quality and marketability of final products and potential impacts on farm viability

Objective #1: Cropping

2010: Cropped 5 tons of mangels (red mammoth and yellow cylindrical) on ¼ acre.

2011: Planted 1 acre beet trial plot. Heavy spring rains rotted 80% the seedbed. Plot abandoned.

2012: Planted 1 acre beet trial plot on better-drained land. Heavy spring rains rotted 40% of the seedbed. Plot carried through to harvest

Field Beet general growing practices

Seed early (April if possible) Seek a well drained location, but beets grow in

a range of soil types Thin to one beet per 1-1.5 row feet Harvest in November for the highest weight

and sugar content Field beet classes vary in their ease of harvest On-farm winter storage of large quantities of

beets is easily accomplished with a clamp

Our Non-GMO trial varieties

Variety Yield per Acre, tons

Sugar content at harvest

Extracted juice sugar content

Notes

Scottish Fodder Beet

20.2 13% 17% Easiest harvest

Shumway's Giant Half Sugar Type

17.2 18% 22% Strongest germination

Monsterbuck Non-GMO deer bait sugar beet

14.6 17% 21% Weakest all-around performer

Betaseed experimenal energy beet #2

18.2 18% 22%

Storing and Feeding Field Beets

Use a “Clamp.” Feed beets whole or chop Process with a juicer and dry expelled pulp

Nutritional Properties of Field BeetsDietary Dry Matter

Total Digestible Nutrients

Crude Protein(DDM Basis)

Neutral Detergent Fiber(DDM Basis)

Acid Detergent Fiber(DDM Basis)

Sugarbeet Pulp

26.1% 76.1 6.6 45.4 27.4

Whole Root 23.8% 86.8 3.3 15.4 6.7

Whole Tops 36.7% 65.2 10.9 50.8 24

Our Attempted Sugar Making

Diffusion method - slicing and steeping

Centrifuge method –using a large vegetable juicer

Sugarmaking, Part 2

Boiling (similar to maple syrup) to crystalization temperature

Pan seeding Cleaning and evaluation of crystals

What We Learned

Field beets are a fairly easy grow if you have well-drained soil, but thinning and harvest are demanding

Non-GMO field beets had yields and nutritional parameters within standard national (GMO) ranges in an organic system

Non-GMO beet pulp is a possible value-added crop, if a drying system is available

Sugarmaking is challenging due to persistent off-flavors we were unable to eliminate

Distallation was also unsuccesful due to difficulty efficiently eliminating beet solids and the same persistent off-flavors that troubled our sugarmaking.

Why I still think that there is money in beets after all beets have put me

through 1 acre of beets: approximately 40,000 lbs Average sugar content of sugar beets: 16% Lbs theoretical sugar per acre: 6400 Cost of fancy crystal table sugar per lb: $3 Potential value-added, per acre: $19200 Cost of a fifth of microdistilled vodka: $25 Potential fifths of vodka per acre: 3200 Potential farm/microdistillery revenue per acre:

$80,000 Dry beet pulp per acre: 4,000 lbs Cost of “Speedi Beet” per lb: $1 Potential revenue from dry beet pulp per acre: $4000